


You're My Universe

by AlternativeUniverses (Lashtonisall)



Category: All Time Low
Genre: And he wants Alex to love himself, Artist Jack, Basically Jack loves Alex, Depressed Alex, Fluff, Jalex - Freeform, M/M, Sad Alex, Self Harm, Triggers, cuteness ensues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:33:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4044298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lashtonisall/pseuds/AlternativeUniverses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack didn't understand, how could Alex do something like that to himself? Didn't he understand how much he meant to the other boy? How completely lost Jack would be without Alex by his side? Maybe Jack had to make him see.</p><p>"Lie down," Jack ordered as he gestured to Alex's full sized bed, complete with the Nightmare Before Christmas throw Jack had given him for Christmas that year. Alex cocked an eyebrow, but followed Jack's command none the less. "Now, take your shirt off," Alex looked over his shoulder at the other boy, wondering what Jack was possibly up to. "Just do it," Jack reiterated as he went to his desk to collect his oil paints and a few brushes.</p><p>OR</p><p>Jack knew Alex was sad, but he didn't know how sad. That is, until he discovers Alex's sliced wrists under his silicon band bracelets. Jack decides that Alex needs reinforcement of just how much he is needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're My Universe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BubblesOfMusic23](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblesOfMusic23/gifts).



> Okay, this is my first fic, so I'm really sorry if it's shitty.

"Cmon, Alex. You can't sleep with your bracelets on," Jack whined at his best friend. He somehow managed to always be wearing the same three bracelets, one from Green Day, one from Blink, and one too old and faded for Jack to decipher. Probably The Beatles, Jack scoffed mentally.

"I have before, and I can again," Alex stated stubbornly. Jack was not getting him to remove those bracelets. They were his safety. That is, until Jack pulled a puppy dog face. As much as Alex hated to admit it, he was a sucker for Jack's puppy dog faces. Ever since that day in the eighth grade, when Alex realized he liked Jack as more than a friend, everything the younger boy did had gotten infinitely cuter. Including his already outrageously adorable puppy dog face. Even as the British boy stared harshly at his cream colored carpeting, he could feel his resolve cracking. Just being in proximity with that stupid face was having an effect on Alex.

"Don't be like that, Lex," Jack started, knowing he was already winning, despite Alex's feelings for the boy being kept in the dark for the past three years. "It's the middle of the summer, those bracelets are going to get all gross and sweaty if you don't take them off eventually," Jack pushed even harder. Alex stared at the carpeting, trying to decipher the answer as if this decision was Trig homework and the flooring was his textbook. Knowing the younger would find out his secret eventually, Alex finally gave in.

"Okay, I'm taking them off," Alex sighed, turning his back to the other boy and setting his wristbands on his bedside table.

“Finally,” Jack replied, “I thought I would never get you to take-“ the boy cut himself off midsentence as he spied his best friend’s wrist. “Them off,” Jack finished. “Alex, why?” the boy questioned as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, knowing his best friend had to be in serious pain to take it out on himself like this. Jack’s eyes filled to the brim with tears, threatening to run down his cheeks and ruin the bravado that was thinly veiled to Alex, _his_ Alex, _his_ Alex who had been cutting his wrist in the quiet of his room. And Jack knew, that moment, that if he hadn’t found out, if he didn’t do something to put an end to this, that the same room he was currently sitting in could so easily become his best friend’s sweet suburban tomb. He couldn’t let that happen. Not to his Alex, the Alex who he loved. 

Oh God, Jack thought suddenly. He loved his best friend. Not in the platonic, “no homo bro” way that you were supposed to love a best friend. No, Jack was in love with Alex. It had taken the British boy mutilating himself to make Jack realize it. He couldn’t live without his counterpart. He couldn’t live without his Alex. 

Jack didn't understand. How could Alex do something like that to himself? Didn't he understand how much he meant to the other boy? How completely lost Jack would be without Alex by his side? Maybe Jack had to make him see.

"Lie down," Jack ordered as he gestured to Alex's full sized bed, complete with the Nightmare Before Christmas throw Jack had given him for Christmas that year. Alex cocked an eyebrow, but followed Jack's command none the less. "Now, take your shirt off," Alex looked over his shoulder at the other boy, wondering what Jack was possibly up to. "Just do it," Jack reiterated as he went to his desk to collect his oil paints and a few brushes.

“Oh-okay,” Alex finally replied verbally, the first words he had uttered since removing his cover, exposing his wrist, and baring his soul for Jack to take or leave. Alex laid his face in a pillow, and heard his bedspread rustling. The boy jumped slightly as he felt a heavy weight press into his lower back, just above his ass. “Um, Jack?” he questioned, curious as to what the other boy was doing. “Yeah, Lex?” the boy in question gave back, sounding light and breathy. “What are you doing?” the elder pondered, as he heard the twisting of a cap. “I’m going to show you just how much you mean to me,” Jack told the boy underneath him. Alex’s heart began to rabbit away, his mind conjuring scenarios that he had imagined many a time before. Would he finally get what he had been secretly longing for, without having to reveal his feelings to Jack? His eyebrow reflexively quirked as he felt a cold, small, and somewhat damp object come into contact with his skin. “Jack…?” Alex trailed off into his question. “Just relax, you’re too tense to paint,” and suddenly it all clicked in Alex’s mind. “You’re painting me...” the boy let his words hang in the air, more firm than a question, but not quite a statement. “Yeah, Lex. I’m painting you,”. 

Alex wanted to keen under the paint brush, he was so happy. Jack was transforming Alex’s body into something beautiful, a work of art. He would finally be something to be proud of, even if it was only as the canvas under his love’s talented hands. The boy almost cried tears of joy as he realized what he has been given in this moment. This was a purpose. His thoughts trailed off so far that Alex hardly noticed when contact was lost with the paint brush. He didn’t think anything of it until he heard a camera shutter, and Jack announced that he was finished. 

“Look,” Jack encouraged his mate to sit up before handing Alex his iPhone. “It’s gorgeous, but... Why paint that?” Alex wondered aloud as he stared at a picture of the starry night painted on his toned back. “It’s the universe,” the younger stated as if Alex should know, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “because you’re my universe. I wouldn’t exist without you,”. The elder furrowed his eyebrows as he attempted to decipher exactly what this gesture meant. Did Jack reciprocate his feelings? Or was this strictly platonic? And what did Jack mean he couldn’t live without Alex? He’d be fine, with all his talent and nothing holding him back.

“Alex,” Jack spoke softly, almost a whisper on his lips. Alex turned his head to look at his best friend, his confidant. His eyes had to readjust as Alex noticed that the other’s face was incredibly close to his own. “Yeah…” Alex gave the other boy, half acknowledgment of Jack, half approval of the situation. Jack took the small word as his sign, and closed the distance between his mouth and his newly discovered love’s. He kept the kiss chaste, but let his mouth fall open as he pulled away. “Was that okay?” Jack worried that he might be taking advantage of Alex’s vulnerable state. “More than okay,” Alex confirmed fervently as he moved in to swipe a second kiss over Jack’s lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave comments, I'll read all of them!


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